Just like the team bosses at Ferrari, Force India will be wondering just what might have been had it not been for the red flag in Australia.
But whilst Ferrari will have to investigate if they did indeed make the wrong decision on tyre strategy, Force India will know that they were just unlucky.
Force India had always intended to run a one-stop pit-stop strategy and had made their pit-stop just one lap prior to Fernando Alonso’s spectacular crash.
The pit-stop had cost Force India precious track position and had lost them the advantage they had just earned on tyre strategy as the red flag enable the drivers around them to change tyres and match their strategy of running the remainder of the grand prix on one set of tyres.
‘Our strategy was shaping up very nicely with the plan to stop both cars only once, But the red flag reset the strategies of everyone around us and made our task much more difficult. Force India Deputy team principal Robert Fernley told motorsport.com.
Nico Hulkenberg said: ‘The red flag made things a lot more difficult for our planned one-stop strategy because it gave everybody around us the chance to reset and change their tyres.
‘So that was a shame and it meant I was out of position and got stuck behind the Haas for most of the race.’
Sergio Perez added: ‘I had an issue with overheating brakes, probably because I spent most of the race in traffic, but [thankfully] we still managed to finish the race.’
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